Hi I'm Grant the Polite Guy and I was homeless for about a year and a half. So much has happened since then. I write here to help bring homeless awareness looking at the world through a homeless person's point of view.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Me and my
big mouth. Ha ha. Last night I was talking to a single person and I was hearing
how internet dating was bad. Then me and my big mouth saying “I can put a BBQ
on in 5 days for the homeless I bet I could put on a singles night for 400
people in 4 days” and joking around.

I got a text
this morning saying how it’ll be great on Friday night. I was a bit confessed
so I called and was reminded I said this Friday I’m doing a Singles Night. What have I done!

So you
guessed it, I kept saying yep and it’ll be great. This was at 6:30am this
morning. I hung the phone up and well let me say panic started very quickly. Ha
ha.

But I am a person that knows people. By 9:50am I had a venue
in the city (The Function Room at The Irish Club) and a D.J/ Event Party
Person. This event was going ahead. I
had everything needed except about 400 single people) Haha easy I still have 3
days from now.

I’m meeting tomorrow with event planners to work out what
games and fun things to make it easier for people to break the ice and meet
other single people. This is going to be a great night.

The club will be keeping the drinks at normal club prices
but there is a door charge of $20 which gives a free drink voucher.

Now I wouldn’t be me and do something if it wasn’t going to
help others. Yes I do think helping single people to help meet other single
people is helping, but I like helping homeless and people in need as well, So
on this fun exciting night I’m going to ask a few people if they would like to
be auctioned off for a date. Where people can bid for a date for the person on
stage.I’m sure this will be very funny
and make the night that much more exciting. The money will go to helping a
homeless person or person’s.

Please note that any auctioning will only be with the consent
of the person on stage.

400 is not going to be easy but I won’t quit because things
got tough. So if your single and between 18 and 65 I want you to come and have
a great night, who knows you may meet that special person you could have coffee
with as friends or even meet that Mr or Mrs Right. But it’ll be a fun and great
night out.

Called “Your Doorway
Singles Night”

Function Room

The Irish Club

175 Elizabeth St. Brisbane City

Starting 6:30pm.

I’m really looking forward to this event, mostly because I
have never done a event like this and to be honest I’m excited to see how it
goes. If your single come and bring friends, if your not single please tell
others as 400 is not going to be easy. Haha

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you all have a
great day. I only have 4 days to put this together so please share and tell
others.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

When I’m out and talking to homeless or people in need I have shared laughter, tears and hugs of gratefulness. So many emotions sometimes when someone wants to sit and talk all about their story. I have often thought if more people could share this they would work as hard as I do to help that many more. I was very inspired when I read two stories that were sent to me within the last 24 hours. I’m going to share them here and maybe you’ll be inspired as I was.

The first one comes from a great person that has helped me many of time with doing things for the homeless and even doing the ‘Pie and Coke’ with me.

After a coffee with Cornelia I walked to the Valley Station and there was a skinny, elderly Aboriginal guy sitting on the ground asking for money. I asked if I could get him something to eat instead, and he said “Yes please, I’m starving”.He said he couldn’t walk very well because he was nearly blind. I asked what he would like, and he said “something hot”. I asked if he would like a burger, and he did. He also asked for a soft drink. I said I’d get something and I would come back.

I went into the Station hall where there is a KFC, and got him a combo meal. He had not expected I would return, and when I announced myself he said “Awww, you come back”. I put the burger and the chips in his hand, told him what it was. I could see his excitement when he felt the food in his hand. He put it very close to him on the ground. Then I got him the pepsi and two of those little wet towels to clean his hands. OMG Grant, he was so happy. Had one tear rolling down his check and he said “May God bless you, you are my Angel. I love you”.He had me close to tears as well! Just a little meal for under $6 became so much more than that. Such a pity I was wearing a skirt and couldn’t sit on the ground, otherwise I would have done the whole pie n coke thing with him.

It was really, really moving how happy he was, like I had done something HUGE. And if I had not met you Grant this would not have happened. I would have walked pasted him, how sad is that... I was thinking of writing this experience on my wall and encourage others to do the same (buying someone a feed), but not sure if that would be appropriate. What do you think? I would really value your opinion.

But thank you, Best Bud, because you have opened my eyes to something that is truly sad and urgent in our modern society and I am very grateful that you did, because I won’t walk past with blinkers on anymore....

Benedikte is awesome and Ace’s in my book.

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Now I’ll share a story written to me by Deb Boundy who is such an inspiration to most that would know her. She helps a great organization called Making a Difference - Brisbanewhich helps so many people all the time and really does more than I do some days.

Here’s Deb’s story that was written to me.

Morning Grant,

I just wanted to let you know I did something yesterday which made me feel good. There was a homeless man sitting outside a shop in Logan, I said “good afternoon”to him and smiled at him. I went inside the shop, the gentleman looked hungry so I bought him a hot wrap and a iced coffee Breaka. Just thought I’d let you know. Was due to meeting you that did this, in previous times I would have smiled and said afternoon but not bought anything. Thank you Grant.

They don’t come nicer then these two ladies. There awesome and I’m proud to just know them and the fact their doing the same as me and helping wherever they can for people in need and homeless.

Now I do have some very good news. I went to the specialist on Friday morning and over the last 6 weeks my red cell count has come downward and the treatment is working well, now I’m doing the treatment for another 6 weeks and then look at the results again. I knew I would get through this, I wasn’t going to quit or give up. Haha. I’m not out of the woods yet but it’s a positive turn. I wanted to thank all those that sent emails and things.

More good news to come. The donation button has collected a total of $618 (Mostly thanks to Sally Piracha) towards building that coffee cart which will help people in need by giving experience and a job.

I’d like to thank you all for reading my blog and I hope you all have a great day. This post may inspire others to help others in need so please share using the buttons below.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Walking through the mall today a young guy
stopped me and was shaking my hand saying how much he enjoyed my stories on my
blog. He even mentioned in front of others about my date and the she that turned
out to be a he. Most of them had a great laugh. Now I can take a joke and now I
even think of the funny side of it.

My smile disappeared quickly when this young guy
about 17 years old was saying how much fun living on the streets would be. The
worst part was he was trying to convince others not to go home and as he put it
“live life and have a ball.”

I almost rolled one of my magazines up and hit
him in the head a lot. Instead I started saying “There's nothing good or fun
about living on the streets. For every story I write that's funny, there's 40
that I could write that's not funny at all. Most of them are things most people
don't want to know about”

They didn't listen nor care I just got them
being dumb. I know they read my blog so this is mostly for them. Please don't
let kids read any more, also I'm sorry if this is not what I normally would have
with funny stories, but I can't have kids thinking it's cool to sleep on the
streets.

There are people that live on the streets mostly
because something very bad has happen to them and they chose to, some it's a way
of life. There's people who are just really down on there luck and there's no
escape.

Know this, living on the streets is NOT cool.
People get raped and bashed and lot's of things that are not fun. Some people
will take advantage of you and sometimes really hurt you. At night there's no
electric blanket to stay warm or walls and a door to close to feel safe. Always
having to watch or hide your stuff so no-one else takes it. If you don't work
then there's no cardboards to get food from. Really it don't matter where you
sleep there's nothing that I know of that's as comfortable as a bed at
night.

Be smart and stay home. If there's a reason you
are leaving besides to be cool and hang with friends then you'll find there's
places that can help. Because I really feel “it's a short ride to get there but
a long journey to get back.” If any of you want help or advice I'll always be
there to talk to.

I really am sorry this post is not a happy one
to read. But the fact is I'd quit doing this blog if I thought I was showing
kids that living on the street was fun or cool when really it's not. I just look
at the good things in life and that's what I show here.

Thank you all for reading my posts and I hope you all have a good day. If you like my writing please feel free to make a donation on the donation button on the top left of the screen. Please know all donations received until it's paid for will be buying a coffee cart that will help homeless people and people in need to get a headstart in life with work and training.
Thank you again.
Grant the Polite Guy.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

I come across a lot of people that are homeless or in great need. I mean sometimes people just need that helping hand because they are down on their luck. People lose jobs, accommodation, relationships split ups and one or both feel left alone, there’s many reasons why people fall down. One thing I have noticed with talking to people that are homeless or close to it is that things started going downhill and it just never stopped.
I’ll write about one case without mentioning names. I have spent a lot of time with a lady that lost her job and went for job interview after job interview for months, soon after she had to move into her car because she could pay the same rent as she had when working. I believe she thought it would be for a short time. Then as time went on she slowly just accepts it and it’s become more of a lifestyle. She stopped hiding it and started believing herself to have less worth.
The way I see it, the longer she believes this is a lifestyle the harder it’ll be to come back. This is not a once off story, I’m sure there’s hundreds of names that could be put to that story.
Being knocked back time after time again for work would be hard but losing their home as well could sent someone on a downward spiral. This was written for people that do look for work, not people that never miss Judge Judy or Springer every day. Ha ha
I’d like to write about an idea I mentioned not too long ago. It’s a Coffee cart idea that like other coffee carts sells coffee.
The idea of this coffee cart was to only employ and train people from hardships. The idea is they do a 2 weeks training in a coffee shop which I have set up, then work for above award wages at the coffee cart getting experience in the industry. No limit of how long they stay for.
I was thinking with every cup of coffee sold then the cart would donate 20 cents to the charity I’m putting together which does the BBQ’S and helps homeless. So really it’ll be people in need getting trained and working while each cup sold goes to helping others that are in need. Something like ‘Pay it Forward’
Now I have organized everything coffee machine, beans, cups, eg except the cart itself which Nathan Scholz has said he would make if I bought the materials, around $2,500. I am putting all money I get from my donation button (top left) towards this until I raise enough.
To help me out raising this, an amazing person Sally Piracha has placed a brand new IPAD on ebay which all the money is donated for making the cart as well. A brand new IPAD AWESOME. http://bit.ly/NqZN62
Check it out and know the winner gets an IPAD and helps people in the future. There’s only 6 hours to go.
I’d like to say thank you for reading my blog and I hope you all have a great day. Please donate if you can on the donation button (top left) as all money is going towards getting that cart.
Grant the Polite Guy.

About Me

Hi I Grant the polite guy. I'm a big issue vendor that sells mags in the city. I spend most of my time saying "Have a nice day" to people that walk pass. I would see thousands of people a day and see alot of things that I am happy to share with you. If you stand in one spot long enough you'll see the world come to you.
I hope you enjoy the stories and have a nice day.